To take the words of co-course designer from Oak Bay Bikes in Victoria, Mat Powsey's, the course description for the first ever legal cyclocross race in Victoria was as follows: There's a whirly-wirl, a log , barricades , quick runups including wide stairs , it goes through a rodeo corral into a Nys killing sand-pit back into corral land out around a playground under awnings around a " poultry " barn ( got yer flu shot? ) to the start finish. It's rad. and the pits? the pits have a hose. pro . we've used nearly all the stakes. ribboned everything.it's sweet. lap times around 5mins+ short but featureful and very physical it will take it's toll. I hope it don't rain. Then the next e-mail, "actually pray for rain..." matt

I received that pumped up description after returning to the Island from the Provincial Championships at Jericho. We were excited for the opportunity to finally have a legal race in Victoria. Legal in that there has been cx racing in Victoria for a number of years but only at the Wednesday-night-fun-race-everyone-shows-up-and-has-a-beer-type of racing. Great for the enthusiasts but hard to grow the sport off.

Despite provincials being held the day before we again had a solid turn out of riders spread over the three start times. First lap beer primes from Lighthouse Brewery as well as series points and prizes gave the riders plenty of incentive to race hard from the start. Each race was started with a vintage military police siren donated by my uncle!

Race #1: Intermediate Men (8 Laps)For the first time we ran the Intermediate men in the first race to clear up the course in the second event. Victoria's Andrew Olive (Dr. Walker) took it out hard with a fast opening lap to take the beer prime. In his special cowboy outfit and looking good for his cat dressed fan club Andrew's day was done. As Andrew faded back into the field, Aaron Amar (IRC) took over the lead for the next 6 laps. A broken spoke and rubbing brakes an Amar's bike allowed Nanaimo's Bill Mc Millan (Nanaimo MTB Club) to slip by on the last lap and take a 2 second win over Amar. 1st place ranked in the series; Trevor Jones (CVCC) of Courtenay rounded up the top three.

Race #1: Beginner Men (8 Laps) and Women (7 Laps)Leaving to the siren, 1 minute after the Intermediate Men the eight Beginners took the course. Four men and four women in the beginner category today. The Lighthouse Brewery Primes were won by Seth Billing (CPT) and Kjersten Lone (Dirty Girls) both of Victoria. Both Billing and Lone went on to win the Beginner category for the boys and girls. Becoming a legend was 9 year old Curren Jongsma who again piloted his XXXS CX bike around the course to complete 6 of the 8 laps!

Race #2: Master Men (12 Laps)The largest of the fields today with 16 riders taking the course. Series #1; Robin Dutton (Arrowsmith) took off from the front line at the siren. Everyone thought it would be a repeat of the Coal Cross where Dutton lead from the gun to the wire. Dutton took the Lighthouse Brewery beer prime and was looking very strong. But from the back line two non-ranked riders were making up time. The first to make contact with Dutton was Duncan's Peter Stevenson (Cowichan). He jockeyed with Dutton for a few laps before leaving him. Next was back row starter, Dave Holden (Aviawest) from Victoria with a never changing expression on his face he passed a fading Dutton and focused in on Stevenson. 50 meters. Then 30. Starting the last lap it was down to 25 meters but Stevenson was able to hold off Holden for a 4 second win. Dutton held onto 3rd with Courtenay; Coal Cross organizer, Dave Nowak (Frontrunners) almost catching Dutton and taking 4th place.

Race #2: Women (12 Laps)Lisa Ludwig (Oak Bay Bikes) from Victoria showed great opening speed by taking the Lighthouse Brewery Beer Prime. With the opening lap out of the way she got into a back and forth battle with Trish Sinclair (Scott) over the next few laps. Ludwig showed great form and technique by powering out of each of the many Luxton Fairgrounds corners. Eventually this technique opened up a gap on Sinclair. Ludwig was the sole women to make it through for 12 Laps of the course today with Sinclair (2nd) getting caught just before the line by the Master's men's leader. Rounding out the podium was Jamie McGowan (Oak Bay Bikes) also of Victoria.

Race #3: Expert Men (14 Laps)Victoria's Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) (, fresh off a win at the Provincial Championships yesterday in Vancouver received the first ever honorary dignitary 1st call up spot on the front line of the 15 person Expert field. 60 minutes. 14 Laps of the technical Luxton course. For some riders this meant up to 56 dismounts. For the more skilled riders they could get it as low as 28 with expert bunny hopping skills.

Troy Woodburn (Gigabike) took off like a rocket and led out Kabush and Canadian Masters Champ, Normon Thibault (Frontrunners) for the first lap Lighthouse Brewery Beer Prime. Woodburn and Kabush quickly left Thibault behind on lap 2 and from the 4th line Mat Hewitt (Oak Bay Bikes) rode through to join the leading two riders. Next to make their way through traffic was Kris Sneddon (Kona) using his MTB "skilz" to bunny hop his way past a fading Thibault. The first DNF of the day was to be Diver Lake race winner, Rob Britton (Gigabike) who retired with a broken seat.

The 14 laps were taking their toll with gaps opening up all over the course and only small groups of 2 riders or solos after half of the race. Up front Woodburn (4th) faded a bit with Hewwit (2nd) making up time on Kabush (1st). Later it was learned that Kabush was being "a gentleman" and not passing Wendy Simms (Kona) so she could be the last rider to complete all of the 14 laps.....not exactly a privilege!

A battle was developing for 5th place and last step on the Expert podium between Thomas Skinner (Sugoi-Giant) and Thibault with back and forth action for the last 4 laps. On the last lap Thibault tapped Skinner's rear wheel at the center of the Whirly Whirl section and went down leaving 5th place wide open for Skinner. We should mention that Sneddon made his way from the very last person called up to 3rd!

Awesome racing. A lot of fun! Hope to see more people out for next year.

Next race on Vancouver Island (and 2nd to last race in British Columbia for 2006) is the National Championships on November 11th. IF you are racing for fun or with a lack of fitness or a beginner you can race the 8:30am challenge categories on the Nationals Course. Sign up on our web site.

Last race in the Cross on the Rock Island Cup Series is double points at Fletcher's Farm on November 12th. A great way to finish up your cross season.